The Swamp

by Liz O'Neill

Background
Liz & Linda, sitting on a Maple Tree thinking back to what happened before they discovered Native American teens. In this part of the book they're crossing a swamp

"I have to get over there, Linda."

"Where?"

"Over there." Liz pointed toward the stand of spruce trees.

"Way over there?"

"Yuh, there's something I want to check out, you can wait here if you don't wanna walk that far."

"Oh no, I'm not waiting here alone, I'm coming with you. What's a little more walking, anyway?"

The two stepped off from the road. This time there was no slope to conquer. It was quite level.

"Ew, what's that foul, putrid smell?" Linda grabbed her nose with her thumb and pointer finger.

They had been progressing well tromping through the knee-high grass. The musky smell of mud and decay signalled them that the terrain was changing radically. They were finding themselves in a swamp.

They were close enough to hear a chorus of frogs. "We are in a swamp," Linda shook the first sight of mud from her shoe.

Liz turned around to warn Linda to watch where she stepped. There were toadstool-like clumps of earth to balance on to avoid plunging into the blackness surrounding them.

Linda examined the muck surrounding her feet. "I wonder how deep this stuff is?"

Liz hesitated. I hope I haven't made a big mistake and gotten us into more than we can handle. We'll just have to be very careful.

As they got closer, Liz could see the object was indeed what she had hoped it would be. "Yes!" she said, striking the air with her fist. She wished she could do a victory dance but thought better of it, considering what she was standing upon. She glanced down, to remind herself where she was.

"What is that?" Linda caught up with Liz.

The rest of the way was dry solid ground. The sour smell was still there. Liz winced. Linda had had to use both hands to balance but once she could, she pinched her nose again.

The tension decreased with a refreshing spruce scent washing over them. The dried needles were comforting to step through. "Linda, don't you wish we could roll in this softness?"

No answer came. Linda was busy examining the shape of the incredible object in front of them. "What is this? Who put it here, it's huge. How did it get here?"

Liz was moving her hands around its cold rough surface. She put her face on it and gave it a good hug.

"This is called a raised rock. Did you see the one I posted on my Facebook page? Mine is bird-shaped. Look at the front of this. There is clearly a shaped face."

As Linda looked at it, she said, "It looks like the head of a bird. Maybe a crow. The rest of it doesn't look like anything."

My raised rock had carvings underneath. "Let's look to see if there is anything."

They both got on their knees and peeked around inside, in between the stones.

"There's something over here?"

"Where?" LIz was excited now. Upon inspection, she said, "It looks like a turtle. They were very important to the Native Americans. They call the earth 'Turtle Island'.

"The way the myth goes is that in the beginning of time, the land animals had no place to go because everything was all water. A giant tortoise rose up out of the water and offered its shell for their home."

Cameras came out again. Myths were documented. Cameras were returned to their places in each backpack.

Standing up, Liz noticed a faint carving of two human faces on the other side. Linda came over to see what Liz was examining. "It's two faces. I think it might be the mythical twins whose mother was killed by a monster. They became protectors, monster slayers. Very cool. "

Cameras came out again. As they were tucking them back in and finally zipping their packs, Liz suggested, "Well, I guess we should be moving on. I'm happy."

Linda did not know what to say, it was so new to her. She shook her head in awe.

*********

As Liz twisted her upper torso to make sure Linda was still there, her foot slipped. Down it went. Her "Oooof" caught Linda's attention to stabilized her own foothold.

By then, Liz was sitting, with her calf buried knee-deep in thick muck. She had stretched her right leg out over the saving mounds but much of her left leg had disappeared, claimed, sucked downward.

Feeling somewhere between the ages of 6 and 8 she flashed back to the moment she'd sunk her little red rubber boot deep into a snowbank. On her way home from school, playfully walking along the ridge, she was startled when the snow support gave way.

Her right foot vanished. When she pulled with all her might, her leg was finally freed. When she looked down she was discouraged to discover a bare/foot.

She was beginning to cry as she knelt, groping around, to find the firmly ensconced boot. Her knee slipped onto the road, not a safe place. She had to get herself repositioned onto the sidewalk.

Her foot got cold and wet in the process. When she got frustrated, all her strength and might, showed itself. She pulled and twisted, loosening the snow enough to yank the boot free.

Liz knew this would not be that easy. Those same childhood tears began welling up. She felt as if many hands were gripping her calf under the mud. There was going to be no helicopter coming to rescue her.

Whenever she was in a paralyzing situation, Liz fantasized a rescue team dropping ropes and a safety seat to lift her up and away from danger and terror. The same need to escape encapsulated her when she'd climbed a towering pile of rocks left by the glacier.

She was so high up, treetops poked through wide spaces between the rocks. Liz knew the only way to get back down to solid ground was to be lifted to a helicopter. Just as there and other times, no help was coming.

At least she was not alone. Through her tears, she could see Linda had already gone into action. She was making her way back to where they had just come from.

Being innovative and a good problem solver, Linda began looking around for just the right branches for leverage. Dragging the tree boughs, she explained her plan. " These are to hold us up, so we will have more flexibility. She created a new thick floor for her to move around to help Liz.

She headed back to find more branches to complete the first step. "I want to make sure this is substantial enough to hold me up and you when we get your leg free."

Liz breathed a sigh of hopefulness. Her tears changed to happiness and gratitude. "You are such a wise woman. I'm lucky to have you for a dear friend."

Linda was back with deciduous branches, solid wood. She set them down onto the bed of boughs and went back for more. The next pile was more like logs.

"We're going to put these under your butt, and thigh, slowly building a fulcrum high enough to lift your calf."

"What a great idea. I think it will work. I don't think I will lose my shoe either, at least I hope not. That will be another problem to solve.

*************

"Look, Linda, it's working! My knee is higher. My foot is moving. I can feel it loosening in the mud."

It did seem like an eternity as Linda made one trip after another, buoying up Liz's thigh. "Only my ankle and foot are left to pull out."

Liz found the strength she'd used to pull her boot free so many years ago. With Linda's help, the muddy ankle and foot with the shoe still on rose to the surface.

There was rejoicing and hugging. "Thank you, thank you, so much. If it weren't for you, I'd probably be here forever. I really don't know what I would have done. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Just a minute. Don't go anywhere." Linda said.

"Like I could or would. Where are you going now?"

Linda returned with two sticks. "I picked these out for us. I guess I should have thought of these before."

"Oh, like it's your fault I slipped? I take full responsibility for that. I guess we should have kept the walking sticks we used for climbing that steep hill to get the berries."

Cautiously working their way back, they danced on the pavement when they stepped onto the all too familiar foggy road.

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I'd like to acknowledge TeamFreeWill for their picture that suits my theme very well. This book is about the adventures of Liz & Linda in Montana. Most of the adventures are related to the fact that they are close to the Crow Nation Reservation.

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Artwork by TeamFreeWill at FanArtReview.com

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